Beth Camp Historical Fiction

Monday, October 21, 2013

October 21: Micro beat . . .

Today's prompt from OctPoWriMo asks us to write a sentence poem of exactly 17 syllables, inspired by Jack Kerouac. Here are the results of this morning's writing.

Morning begins with delight and hope: I am here, aware and ready. 

I write with a woman's eye to find what lies between thought and action.

I struggle with form and content, to be surprised by grace and beauty.

With each breath, I am attentive and forgetful in equal measure. 

What I found from writing these deceptively simple sentences that take us down to the essence of an idea is that I am a conditional thinker. My writing begins with phrases like -- if, because, since, although.  And that I find it difficult to confront reality head on. Is this because I am a woman? That I think slant? Sometimes my statements do rise at the end, with that questioning inflection that asks: Is this all right?

But notice how the sharp images of poetry have vanished. That which connects to the five senses is simply not present. So perhaps:

My fingers ache with desire to put words down that connect heart and mind.

I find quotes here and there and keep them at the front of my daily writing diary for inspiration.

Imagine my surprise when I counted syllables to find that this month's quote falls under the category of Jack Kerouac's American Sentence Poem -- 17 syllables.

'The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.' --Pablo Picasso

My response:

I still know only one Picasso, one art, one daily life, one soul.

Picasso: Boy with a pipe (Wikipedia

Of course, we can romanticize Picasso, and I do. But he lived a complex life, had many affairs, and wrote poetry, often as ribald as he was. His art and his poetry describe a man with large appetities and an equal amount of rage. 

Read more of Picasso's poetry at Wikipedia.

Read what others have written for this poetry prompt at Octpowrimo.



12 comments:

  1. I too have seen connections (on how I write) in my poetry that makes me wonder about their origin. I love the line, "My fingers ache with desire to put words down that connect heart and mind." I feel this sentence in my soul. Thank you Beth.

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    1. Thank you, Morgan! We have different opinions of Jack Kerouac, but that's OK. Someday I'll share my poem about him with you. But what I appreciate most is how your work on octpowrimo helps us all stay connected -- and writing.

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  2. Beth, your link for Octpowrimo is in error (I think you have it set for www.octpowrimo.org and it's www.octpowrimo.com). Tressa

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  3. When I teach the American Sentence, students don't think it is poetry--but I do! Thanks for celebrating it!

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    1. Hi, Sandy. It doesn't feel like poetry to me -- oh, and I worked very hard to get some imagery in it. I'm wondering if your students have the same problem. But what fun the experiment was!

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  4. "With each breath, I am attentive and forgetful in equal measure." How I love this!! Perfect, eternal, profoundly simple.

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    1. Thank you, Christine. My online writing friends are far more meditative than me. But as I get older and slow down, I am more aware of how fragile life is and do try to cherish each moment!

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  5. Loved this one: "
    With each breath, I am attentive and forgetful in equal measure."

    Isn't that the way!

    And, I love the insights you give us into yourself through your narratives. I am honored to be able to read them. Thank you. xoA

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    1. Thank you, Annis. We are all poets together, sharing our thoughts. I love visiting your site as well. We are fortunate on those days the words come easily.

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  6. "I struggle with form and content, to be surprised by grace and beauty."

    I think this one defines our month-long poetry challenge. All of your poems were lovely, clear and sharp. Loved them all.

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    1. Thank you, Anna K. They still don't feel like poems, but the experiment was fun. I can't wait to see what others have written for this one, even if it means going back a day. :)

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